Maya actually has a pretty short list of foods she's willing to eat. Peanut butter sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs (no bun), chicken muggets (nope, not a typo that's what she calls them), kraft dinner (sometimes) and canned pasta. That's pretty much the only meal type foods she will eat. As for snacks she's willing to eat almost anything cracker/cookie/granola bar related.
Abby's deal is partly a food texture issue. She used to like Kraft Dinner, but now can't eat it without gagging. The same with yogurt and puddings. She will eat the lemon merengue pudding, but only by licking it off a spoon tiny bits at a time. I have food texture issues myself so I certainly know what it's like. So in that vein she won't eat anything pasta based (she used to like the canned pasta as well,but I'm thinking she's over that now these days) or mushy like mashed potatoes.
Abby does have a longer list of approved foods compared to Maya. She'll happily eat grilled cheese, ham sandwiches, sardines (which are actually quesadillas, no idea why she calls them sardines), peanut butter, sausage, burgers, hot dogs, nuggets, pizza, bacon, scrambled eggs (sometimes), bologna, chicken breasts (sometimes), actual ham (not lunch meat ham) and cheese slices never real cheddar. She has a surprisingly sensitive palate too, so I'm not able to sneak much of anything past her. For snacks she and Maya are pretty well in tune.
She did recently try two new foods that thrilled Mike and I to no end. English muffins and a taco with meat and cheddar on it. Which blew her "I hate cheddar" campaign right out of the water. Mike and I were truly surprised since both girls are very reluctant to try new things. I usually end up packing a lunch for them when we eat at other people's houses. It's just easier.
As for dinners, I try to split up the week so the girls get some dinners they like and we get some we like. Of course on the night we get what we like I'm usually making a peanut butter sandwich for Maya and a grilled cheese for Abby on top of our meal. I never used to do this. Before Maya arrived there was always something on the table that Abby would eat. So I never can figure out how I ended up being the Mom who makes three dinners a night. I admit, I am a little tired of it, but not really sure where to go from here.....
So I wanna know.......
Do you have picky eaters? If so how do you deal with them?
Do you have picky eaters? If so how do you deal with them?
8 comments:
We have/had fussy eaters here too. When I came into the picture, all Will & Nicole would eat were noodles, kraft dinner, nuggets & pizza. They got a special meal at each and every mealtime b/c it was the only way to get them to eat. I minded but not too terribly. What really got me was going out to Nana's & seeing all the beautiful food she prepared & then seeing the pizza she cooked for them. When Nicole was 5 & Will was 7, we said "no more". They had to eat what we ate or starve. There was much whining, crying & nashing of teeth but we got through it. Our situation was doubly hard b/c their mother still makes the separate food to this day. Now they will eat pretty much anything though the level of complaining is somewhat variable based on what it is. I try to the throw them a bone once in a while & make tacos or pizza (something that they both love but isn't all that healthy).
We started out down this path with the two bite rule. If you aren't allergic to it, two bites won't kill you. They get two bites of everything they don't like/haven't tried & larger amounts of things they do like. They then have to eat everything (or we negotiate). We do make them clean their plates but generally there isn't much food there. At first you feel like a real meany. There are times when they will go to bed without having eaten much supper (though they usually got a snack later if this happened) but eventually they start to figure out that they like some new things. Then it's all worth it! Hope that helps!
I hope you get lots of comments on this post Shan. Although Max is still pretty young, he is starting to get fussy. He was such an enthusiastic eater, only ever turning his up to avocado. Now, his diet consists of chicken nuggets (thank you mini-chefs!) and peas. I bet Karen will be able to sympathise and advise on this.
Oh, I have _no_ trouble being a total hard-a$$ when it comes to this. I absolutely refuse to make special meals for the girls (as long as what we are eating isn't too spicy or something like that). There are usually a few things on the plate to choose from: a protein, veggies, grain...and if they don't want to eat any of it then, ah well, I guess you'll be hungry. There is absolutely no "dessert" for them if they don't make a good dent in their dinner and that is that.
"I'm sorry. This isn't a dinner and I'm not a short order cook".
My girls are pretty adventurous eaters because of my meanyness (did I just invent a word?), I think. They'll even eat real sardines! I have to hide ~my~ total disgust so as not to ~taint~ them when they sit down to snack on a can with their dad (gag!!).
;-)
little d sounds like a combo of your two girls. Now that he's 3.5, there are nights when he goes to bed with nothing eaten, only some water (on those nights he also doesn't get milk, which he would fill up on). That tactic has at least forced him to try some things, rather than flat-out refuse it.
My mom says I'm "paying for my raising".
We allow a certain level of pickiness in our house until they are about two years old. At which point, we figure they're for sure old enough to be eating with the family regardless. There are certain things I don't push; for example, I don't make Jared eat mashed potatoes. He's tried them a thousand times and doesn't like them. I let him get away with it. But he does eat an extra spoonfull of veggies in place of it. If it's a brand new dinner that none of us have tried before, if the kids don't like it, I'll make something else for them. If it's a meal we've had before, and they've eaten before, I don't budge if they refuse to eat it. They can wait until breakfast. Sounds mean, but it sure does work. Gives them the power of making the choice (eating dinner, or not). I'm impressed you have time to make extra food at mealtime to cater to the girls. I wish maybe I were a little more lenient, but my evenings are chaotic and crazy enough without preparing three meals at dinner time. My kids, overall, are much better eaters than I am, and for that I am thankful. Emily and Jared both inhaled pork roast dipped into green tomato chutney at my IL's house the other night, and I ate just enough of the roast not to be rude and avoided the chutney like the plague (looked liked a jar of snot and I'm a real visual/texture person myself...LOL)
so to make that long story shorter: I pretty much give them the choice to eat what we're eating or wait until breakfast. Connor's the only one of them who regularly waits for breakfast and you've seen him on my blog, he's not wasting away by any means!
2 of my 4 are VERY picky eaters. I usually try to get something into the meal that I know they will eat. We tell them they have to at least try a bite. We ususally try to give them the food at least 20 times before we stop making them try it. There have been foods (like peanut butter) that they didn't like at first but will now eat. There are also foods (like cheese) that they would gag on everytime they took a bite.
When I am making a meal tha tI know they are going to refuse to eat, I tend to give them a bigger snack that I know they like. That way I know they are getting SOMETHING (especially because all of my children have super-human metabolisms and have to eat more calories than the average child to gain weight), but I also drive home the point that if they want to eat dinner, they have to eat what the family is eating.
Thanks everybody for the reminder that I need to get tougher with them. It was the kick in the pants I needed.
I'm catching up on your blogs. It's been a busy week.
Normie and I must have grown up together or something because we adhere to the same child food philosophy. Far more times than I would like, I hear myself tell the kids, "Fine. Don't eat it. You obviously aren't as hungry as you claim to be." or "If you don't eat this, you will get NOTHING else to eat for the rest of the night."
I saw the blog on the update. Stick with it, Sister. it may be hard now, but will pay off in just a few weeks.
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